Background:

Considering the uncertainty of Mexican families about their future income and grand expectations on financial inclusion policies in the country, consumption studies continue to be important. Studying household savings and credit patterns is a fundamental key to financial development.

Methods:

This paper uses a synthetic panel to provide a semi-parametric estimation of savings and debt patterns over life cycle.

Result:

It shows that the beginning of family life mainly depends on credit, while at the end, there is a high monetary saving profile, sustained and different from the reduction predicted by the life cycle model. Human capital and income explain most of differences between families’ financial patterns.

Conclusions:

Results show persistence of inequalities in the financing process; financial literacy and saving incentives should be main goals for the country’s inclusion strategy.